1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automatic bundling devices and, more particularly, to a device for tying bales of material by wire knots and the knot so formed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many machines and processes have been developed in the past for tying the straps around bales formed in cotton presses, hay presses and the like. Such mechanisms are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 893,216, issued to Wood on July 14, 1908; 1,889,372, issued to Nolan on Nov. 29, 1932; and 2,937,484, issued to Wiman on May 24, 1960.
Other devices have been developed for tying knots in wire and include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,150,755, issued to Zimmerman on Mar. 14, 1939; and 3,338,273, issued to Kalning on Aug. 29, 1967.
Those devices incorporated complex mechanisms that were constantly subject to breakdown. Some of the prior devices included apparatus for severing the knot formed by the machine from the supply of wire. Additionally, the prior art mechanisms required the wire to be manipulated through many bending and shaping steps which maximized the stress on the wire. Such stress then caused the knots so formed by those machines to be readily subject to failure.